The landscape has completely changed since Bank of Japan Governor Ueda continued mitigation and Buffett's remarks about buying Japan
My assets are also completely Easter since the Silicon Valley bank bankruptcy crisis, that's ridiculous
I won't buy more today, I'll do it when it goes down (I learned the tactic to buy when the Nikkei falls)

What kind of company is Ark Investment
Ark Investment Inc. was founded in 2014 and is an institutional investor headquartered in Florida, USA. Cathy Wood, the founder of the company, prefixed the company name with ARK (arc), which means ark. The company's assets under management as of the end of December 2022 were 11.54 billion dollars, down 2.81 billion dollars from the end of the previous quarter.
As a result of repeated intensive investments in companies with “disruptive innovation,” the average annual investment return from 2014 to 2021 for the Arc Innovation ETF under the umbrella of the company rose to 39%, and a return rate of more than three times that of the S&P 500 during the same period was recorded.
Under such circumstances, the Wall Street Journal issued a report in 2022/12 stating that “the Ark Innovation ETF has fallen 63% since entering 2022 until now, and has fallen 78% from its peak in 2021/2.” Regarding poor management of ETFs under the company's umbrella, Mr. Wood defended his own investment strategy, saying “we have set an investment period of 5 years.”
Ark Investment portfolio top 10 (2022 4Q...

ChatGPT and Dall·E2 themselves are excellent AI models. However, looking back on past history, no matter how advanced they are in terms of technology, there is no doubt that companies that will catch up with OpenAI will appear one after another as time passes. However, even so, it seems that Microsoft values the “autonomy” of OpenAI and intends to strategically work on the “fruits” (research results) born from it into its own products.
The “additional investment on the scale of several billion dollars” announced in January 2023 seems to be an extension of the past two investments. There is no explanation of the investment scheme from Microsoft or OpenAI, but when various reports from overseas are synthesized, the investment scheme is as follows.
- Microsoft invested billions of dollars (up to $10 billion) over several years
- Microsoft will receive 75% of the profits generated by OpenAI until the return on investment is completed
- After the return on investment, Microsoft can acquire up to 49% of OpenAI's shares
In addition, OpenAI's various AI platforms have been ported to Microsoft's cloud platform “Azure”, and learning programs...

Where are Meta's growth opportunities?
ARPU in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere has been steadily increasing over the years, and Facebook penetration in these countries is still below 25%. If the population of Asia and Africa continues to increase, there is a possibility that ARPU in these regions will grow significantly.
Nonetheless, Meta must continue to invest heavily in research and development in order to continue to be a representative platform for social media.
Another growth factor is probably Reality Labs. In recent years, Meta has invested heavily in virtual reality and augmented reality hardware and software, such as virtual reality headsets such as Quest and online platforms such as Horizon World.
If this technology gets on track and becomes widespread, Meta can be a leader in this new economy and a cash-generating machine. Also, it is possible to re-establish its position as a “cool” enterprise that attracts young users. But will Reality Labs succeed? I still don't understand that.

Despite all the headwinds Meta faces, there are always bright signs.
Facebook continues to be the most used social platform in the world despite experiencing a tough year of 2022. Facebook has become an essential element of social marketing strategies for marketers trying to reach almost every segment.
In recent financial results, it was reported that Daily Active People (DAU) (including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp) continues to grow moderately. If the number of users increases, Meta can continue to secure the power to attract advertisers to the platform by itself.
However, there is a reverse side to Meta's user growth, and after this, let's take a look at what potential headwinds are in the company's user growth.

The stock price of Meta Platforms (META.US) $ fell to half price last year due to repeated involuntary quarterly financial results. Investors are looking for signs of recovery in the current earnings report. We are also looking forward to the latest information on whether brands that have suspended many campaigns have begun to spend more money on advertisements.
In the previous quarter, Meta's total revenue fell 4.47% from the same period last year, and net profit fell 52.2% from the same period last year to 4.39 billion dollars.
Market analysts anticipate further disruptions due to online advertising as concerns about a potential recession remain high. In a survey of 50 ad buyers announced by Cowen this month, it was stated that companies expected a mere 3.3% increase in spending in 2023, showing “the weakest ad growth outlook in the past 5 years.”
Last year, these companies increased their spending by 7.5%.
“Two-thirds of ad buyers have factored in the recession as part of the budgeting process, citing macro-factors such as inflation and consumer softening,” Cowen said.
The good news is that companies spend on advertising to continue to attract customers...

In the company's 3Q (July-September) financial results for the fiscal year ending 2022/12, sales were 27.71 billion dollars, down 4% from the same period last year, and adjusted EPS was 1.64 dollars, down 49% from the same period last year. Although sales slightly exceeded market expectations (27.38 billion dollars), EPS fell well below market expectations (1.89 dollars). Daily active users (DAU) rose 3% to 1.98 billion people in line with market forecasts, and monthly active users (MAU) increased 2% to 2.96 billion people, slightly exceeding market expectations (2.94 billion people). Sales per user (ARPU) fell below market expectations (9.83 dollars) at 9.41 dollars.
On the sales side, sales of the main advertising division declined 4% (27.24 billion dollars). The number of ad views increased 17%, but the average unit price of advertisements decreased 18%. By region, while European advertising revenue fell sharply with the same 16% decrease, the Asia-Pacific region fought well with the same 6% increase. In terms of profit and loss, research and development expenses, SG&A expenses, and marketing expenses all swelled, and operating profit was reduced by almost half.
Sales forecasts for the 4Q (October-December) are 30 billion to 32.5 billion dollars (11 billion compared to the same period last year...

Global EV sales trends and forecasts for '22
According to the summary of the research company MarkLines, the number of electric vehicles (EVs) sold in 22 in 11 major countries+3 Scandinavian countries, which combines battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), was 9.731 million units, up 64% from the previous year. It is said that the ratio of 14 countries to global EV sales will be about 90%. Of these, the number of new EVs sold in China in '22 was 6.887 million units, a 93% increase from the previous year, and it is calculated that 7 out of 10 EVs sold in 14 countries will be sold in China.
Above all, the increase in the share of EV sales in new car sales in 14 countries is remarkable. Looking at the sales share of EVs in new car sales on a monthly basis, what was 7.8% as of 20/12 and 15.0% as of 21/12 rose to 22.5% as of 22/12. Looking at an annual pace, the EV sales share of the 14 countries that accounted for new car sales in '22 was 16.6%, up 6.3% from the previous year.
Under such circumstances, according to the research company LMC Automotive, the sales share of BEVs in global new car sales in '22 is Europe...

Prior to the announcement of financial results for the 22/4Q financial results, the company announced the number of EVs produced and shipped for the full fiscal year of 1/2 and 22 and 4Q of '22. The number of EVs produced and shipped in 4Q '22 was 439,701 units, up 44% from the same period last year, and 405,278 units, respectively, and the number of EVs produced and shipped for the full year of '22 was 1,369,611 units, 47% of the same period, and 1,313,851 units, respectively, up 40%.
In the company's guidance, which was announced in the 21/4Q financial results at the beginning of last year, a company plan was set that the number of EVs shipped for the full year of '22 would increase by over 50% compared to the previous year, and when the 22/3Q financial results were announced in October, the company's management showed a downward revision in the number of units shipped, while the company's management showed a downward revision in the number of units shipped, it was predicted that the same 50% increase in production volume for the full year of '22 would be maintained. As a result, both the number of EVs produced and shipped by the company fell short of the company plan in '22.
While the company's first large EV truck “semi” was delivered to US PepsiCo on 12/1 last year, the company's CEO Mr. Musk is aiming for sales results of 50,000 “cicadas” units in North America in 2024 when they announced financial results for the 3Q in 2024,...